Stan Rauch
Manager, Prairie Village
This past weekend was an exceptionally good one at Prairie Village as two extremely successful major events took place.
It all started Friday evening with the Northern Bull Riding Tour and the weather couldn’t have been better. The new location of the arena in front of the big bleachers on the west side of the tractor pull track was significant in accommodating the increased attendance. There were around 900 festive folks on hand to enjoy the bull riding excitement.
A big part of the bull ride’s success lies with the Chamber of Commerce’s Ag Committee and their outreach to the ag producers in the area. We greatly appreciate their direct involvement with this event that just keeps getting bigger and better every year. And we couldn’t bring the bull ride to the village if it were not for the sponsorships provided by area businesses. There’s a special thanks to them contained in this issue of the Daily Leader.
Sunday evening’s Miss Prairie Village/Miss Prairie Princess pageant in the Opera House was an exceptionally nice event, once again under the direction of Bev Mader. We moved the pageant to the early June date this year due to the July heat experienced the past couple of years. The temperature was pleasant in the opera house Sunday evening despite the fact that it was a packed house. Extra chairs were put out to accommodate everyone. There are 285 permanent seats in the opera house so with the additional chairs there were over 300 people in attendance.
Congratulations to all of the girls in the pageant and especially to Johannah Jensen of Badger, who was crowned Miss Prairie Village 2013, and to energetic Maddie Eich of Ramona, Miss Prairie Princess 2013.
Coming soon at the village on Friday through Sunday, June 21-23, is the 6th annual Motongator Joe’s Country Music Festival. We rent the Prairie Village grounds to Joe Grinsteiner (Motongator Joe) but our normal operations will be maintained during the festival although access to the village will be the gate admission to the event. For the schedule of performances, ticket purchase, camping reservations and other details, go to bigtimecountry.com or call 866-245-2702.
In the meantime, with this Sunday being Father’s Day we offer free train rides for all dads at 2:00 p.m. And don’t forget about the great camping facilities that we have here at the village. We will have a large number of campers with us over the 4th of July holiday but we will still have plenty of camping sites available.